Phil Cookson (Graham Eccles was an 11).

Bob Haigh got my vote, most tries scored by a forward in a season for Leeds (40 I think) but very hard to call between him and Ali L ( I never saw Clues play but am told he was the best) and I always think of Graham Eccles as a number 11 so ruled him out. My all time favourite second rower was Phil Cookson

Almost. As it turned out it wasn't his last ever appearance for Leeds at Headingley although it could have been at the time. It was in the final Home Regular Round fixture V Castleford with Leeds winning 54-12. IIRC it was a conversion following a Jordan Tansey intercept and cantor in under the posts to complete his hat-trick and yes it was in to the Carnegie Stand.

Following that game Leeds finished their regular season with winning away trips to Wigan (16-52) and Wakefield (12-30) before a loss at St Helens (38-10) in the Qualifying Semi-Final, bringing us back to Headingley to face Wigan as we went through to Old Trafford 18-14 after the Calderwood wonder show as a last line of defence had kept it interesting oh and the world record VR - Peacock 'no try' - decision offering Wigan a monumental breather.

Gareth Ellis joined a list of 1 goal contributors to the Leeds cause over the recent past which included such as Phil Ford, Andy Gregory, Gary Divorty, Kevin Iro and Ellery Hanley. Barrie McDermott would have joined them if he hadn't blasted wide from in front V Toulouse at McAlpine in the CC semi-final of 2005.

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Bob Haigh's 40 tries (1970/71) was the record for a Leeds forward until Ellery Hanley scored 41 in his final season (1994/95) with the club.

Bob Haigh scored 40 I think?

Heron was a great player - the perfect combination of speed, ball skills and a great defender, but played at such an awful time for Leeds it's difficult to see him at 13. I also (as much as I thought he was genius on his day) thought he didn't perform consistantly enough. That may be harsh as a lot of the time he was the only Leeds player who seemed to be playing. However, if he turned up as a 19 year old now at Leeds (and they could keep him away from the Town Hall Taps) he would be the most exciting player in SL.

I often thought Dave Heron was Leeds answer to Tony Myler. I also went to school with his nephew, Heron that is not Myler...

Wayne Heron is responsible for a hole in my bedroom ceiling at my parents house.
I was supposed to go to a CC game at Widnes but me and my mates missed the WA coach. Instead we had several pints at the Grange and then went to watch the (televised) match at my house with many cans. Four of us sat in my bedroom watching it on a 14" B/W portable telly. When Wayne went over for the match winner my mate jumped up on my bed and put his head through the ceiling. I can't ever remember laughing as much. The outline of the badly repaired hole is still there 25 years later.

Hanley was probably the best British player I've ever seen, but his best days were spent elsewhere, and if this is Leeds' greatest 13 then I would have no hesitation in voting for Kevin Sinfield.

By the way, has anyone got a list of the vote-winners so far?

Of course I had forgotten that a 'past his prime one legged' Ellery Hanley had managed this feat! I seem to remember Hanley playing at 13 for most of his Leeds days. IIRC Bob Haigh credited Ray Batten with his record at the time saying all he had to do was follow Batten around and he was bound to score.

BTW I wonder what Ray Batten (one of my 20 or so favourite players of all time) is doing these days

And for my next question, how many games did Ellery end up playing for Leeds? It all went by in a bit of a blur. I remember 2 seasons fairly well, but I were but a nipper in them days , and they all merge together a bit.

Different class but you try telling the youngsters today they won't believe you .... they won't.



Sorry no idea. Last time I saw him was at John Holmes' minute silence befor the Les Catalans game. Looked just the same, from a distance.

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Ellery Hanley at Leeds:
League - App 88 + 1, Tries 79, Goals 1, Drop Goals 1, Points 319
Premiership - App 3, Tries 0, Goals 0, Drop Goals 0, Points 0
Challenge Cup - App 14, Tries 19, Goals 0, Drop Goals 0, Points 76
JP/RT - App 6, Tries 6, Goals 0, Drop Goals 0, Points 24
Yorkshire Cup - App 2, Tries 2, Goals 0, Drop Goals 0, Points 8

Total - App 113 + 1, Tries 106, Goals 1, Drop Goals 1, Points 427

113 + 1 appearances and 106 tries is legendary stuff...

Agreed. It'll be good enough for 2nd place on my list of Leeds' #13s that I remember.

It isn't as good as lifting 4 SL trophies, 2 WCC and 2 hubcaps as captain, winning the Lance Todd and Harry Sunderland trophies at Leeds, being the club's all time top goal-kicker and SL's all time leading point scorer, amassing over 1000 points along the way. But it's pretty good.

Pah.

Ray Batten was a better footballer than both put together.

Oh Hanley wasn't a particularly good footballer, but he was one hell of a Rugby League player...